Smooth camera work. Masterful writing. Clear audio. Linear narratives. There are plenty of people who watch Hollywood films and think that their local films could look and feel more like the productions that grace movie theatres across American. Many point to African filmmakers lacking training, funds, and equipment as the major impediments to the “development” of African film industries. But what happens when western development agencies offer said training, funds, and equipment in exchange for carrying development messaging?

It was a few months before I bumped into Daniel-Peter again. His once tiny English vocabulary, which had nevertheless contained the words “anchorage”, “fibreglass”, “first mate” and “consulate”–gleaned from the…..